Posts Tagged ‘sand food’

This odd plant, called “one of the most bizarre wildflowers in North America” by Wayne Armstrong, a professor at Palomar University, lives along with a few other members of its small genus in the deserts of the Southwestern United States. The genus includes Pholisma sonorae, otherwise known as “sand food,” which is pictured above, as well as Pholisma arenarium, also known as the “sand plant” and the “desert Christmas tree,” pictured below.

The flower of a sand plant parasitizing the roots of a "burro brush."

Special attributes:

Parasitism – these plants live mostly subterranean lives, deriving energy from the roots of other plants. They have no chlorophyll – the only time they ever come up to the surface is when they grow their flowers.

Note: All of the photos from Wayne’s Word came from the same page, so I didn’t make individual citations for each one. You can tell which ones are from Wayne’s Word by looking for a black frame around it and a “[Copyright] W.P. Armstrong 2008” in the bottom lefthand corner.